Should I post my Power 19?

[Ayyavazi]

Greetings all,

I'm new here on the forums. I've been working on an RPG for about a decade now, and scrapped the rules and the world setting so many times I don't know if its even the same idea any more. Anyway, I've gotten a lot more serious about actually designing the game and the world setting  and actually publishing it lately, and wanted to know: Should I post my answers to the Power 19 as a first measure?

I've answered the questions and have a good idea in my head about how the game will look, but I don't have anything resembling a draft yet. Should I have a draft before posting the questions, or is help at this stage normal? Anyway, nice to meet all of you and thanks for whatever advice you give me. Happy gaming!

--Norm

[Egonblaidd]

Hey, Ayyavazi (or do you prefer Norm?), welcome to The Forge.  I'm a newcomer myself.

I'd say go ahead and shoot.  It can't do any harm, and people here might be able to point out things you've overlooked, so it could give you a chance to polish things up a bit before you start writing a draft.  I started designing an RPG only a few weeks ago, but came on here a couple days ago and discovered the Big Three and Power 19, and used those to help myself get an idea of what my RPG was about.  In other words, I found using those questions and getting feedback from others really helped bring into focus what I was trying to do.  Now, I imagine you know all that if you've been working on your project for a decade, but feedback is always helpful, so why not?

[Ayyavazi]

[Egonblaidd]

An interesting idea, I like it.  In some ways, it reminds me of my own project, which also focuses on moral issues, though in a different way (for example, is it "better" to commit murder or to stand by and let a village be destroyed?).  Also, the idea that characters get weaker as they progress (even if they initially get stronger), though not a new idea, still defies the norm, setting your game apart from a lot of others.

These are some hard questions, that's for sure, but hopefully by poking your answers on some of them you'll be pushed to come up with better answers, though for the most part they seem pretty good, and I don't think I could have done better myself.  For example, #1 I think I understand what you're saying, but the meaning is lost in the paragraph.  It's a good paragraph that tells you a lot about what you expect to do when designing you game, but it lacks the focus that comes with a one-liner answer to the question.  I'd say your game is about "Survival vs. Morality".  This seems to be the core of what you're getting at, and though, like any kind of one-liner answer, seems a little too generalized, based on the paragraph you wrote it seems you have a good idea on how you what to implement that idea.  That being the case, I'm sure it would help to keep that core idea of Survival vs. Morality in mind when you design setting and situation and mechanics.

This doesn't really address a question so much as the mechanics.  You mention Fate Points, but I think the only use you explicitly mention for them is to bid against another player in order to get control of a scene.  That being the case, I can easily see a player's Fate Points being depleted after one such bidding war, especially if the scene is a very important one.  I think it would be a good idea to give Fate Points some other use (you say that can control scenes AND benefit characters, but you don't elaborate on that latter part), so that players will consider the cost of bonuses or whatever Fate Points provide against the importance of the scene they want to control.  For example, in the Warhammer RPG, each character has so many "Fate Points" that can be spent in order to keep from dying.  A character that loses his head can instead be knocked unconscious and live to fight another day by spending a Fate Point.  That makes them incredibly valuable, more so because they are nigh impossible to get more of.  A use like this in your game would make players think hard before bidding a precious Fate Point on scene control.

Your resolution system sounds like it could also be a little complicated and arbitrary.  You seem to use three different methods depending on the type of resolution it is (e.g. conflict, attribute, skill), and having numbers depend on narration seems as though it could cause problems.  It's much easier to argue with the GM than it is with the dice.  But I don't know any more than one you've said about your resolution system, so it may be that you've thought this all out and taken steps to deal with it.  I like the idea of spending attributes to gain an advantage, it fits perfectly with your design.  Do your attributes decay as well?  So you could essentially "shorten" your life in order to gain a temporary advantage in an important conflict.

I can't think up any other criticisms, so I'll wait for someone else to show up and put in their two cents.  On the whole, it seems like you got a pretty good grasp of what you want to do, but then I'm relatively new to RPG design, so I couldn't say for sure.

[Ayyavazi]

Thanks again for your advice.

As for mechanics on Fate Points, they do have a number of uses. One of their most important is cancelling the effect of a critical hit. When a critical hit is scored, the person who scored it can narrate the death (or incapacitation) of the participant that was critically hit. A fate point cancels this automatic death aspect, and critical hits are scored often due to the damage system I have in mind. They are gained by group vote for good description and also whenever a player fells an enemy of reasonable challenge.

The problem I have is that I am constantly revising my ideas for this system. It hasn't perfectly gelled yet, so since I last posted, my answers would be (and are) considerably different. You see, the answers above were partially based on a system that is more Simulationist/Gamist (I only recently learned these distinctions, though I have understood the concept for at least a couple of years.). Also, the game really was still essentially a standard Fantasy Heartbreaker, albeit based on D&D 3.5 and 4.0. Since I last posted, I have changed my design and marketing philosophy considerably.

First, I am going to separate the rules from the world setting for purposes of distribution, but not for design. So, the world setting itself will be free to download. Then, there will be a number of rule sets all designed for the same world setting. The rules will be sold individually. In this way, I have about 10 different systems I can make all off of the same setting, allowing me to reach a larger target audience without sacrificing all the hard work I've done for nearly a decade.

In the early stages, I am designing a crunchy rules-lite game designed for narrativists. Whenever I am struck by the urge I will also work on the Heartbreaker rules, which will be simulationist/gamist. Later I may try to make a Simulationist game and a gamist game, but I'm not sure. I'll also likely make a d20 variant, a Fudge variant, a Pool Variant, and any other open source game system I can find. I love my world setting, and because of that I want it to be usable by the largest amount of people possible.

As for the differing resolution mechanics based on what is being done, I do agree that it is a little confusing and cumbersome. I hadn't found a way to really work that yet, but felt that it would be easier to design different resolution systems than it would be to design one universal system given the stats, skills, their interactions, and the numbers that were going to be coming into play. I know that answer is vague, but I guess the best way to say it is, without way too much complex math, a single resolution system would not work on my game AS IT IS. if I changed it, I could probably manage it.

Thanks again for your feedback.
--Norm

[Ayyavazi]

Hey everyone,

Thanks again for your input Egon (is that an alright nickname? If it isn't I'll use your full name).

Anyhow, I'm not using this thread for my power 19. Having explained my premise for distribution above, I have realized I need to develop answers to the questions for each variation I will create, in the order I will create them. I also need to ensure I am devoting my time to at most 2 variations at a time, namely the ones I am most interested in. At the moment that will be a design using the morality vs. survival motif you so aptly named, and a traditional heartbreaker design with my own insights. That second one might end up freely distributed since my creation of it is more to "get it out of my system" than to create something I think I will make any reasonable sum on.

Also, I am unable to post again until possibly monday, which means I wouldn't be able to use much of what anyone says until then. I would still love feedback, but between now and then I expect to have a better set of power 19 questions answered for the two main games I plan to make. I will of course want input on both.

Thanks again everyone. I'll be around here for as long as I'm designing RPGs. Hopefully that will be the rest of my life. This seems an invaluable resource. (this being the site).

--Norm